Dr. Ali Al Jassim, the Founder and Chairman of the Society of Sustainability and Green Materials (SSGM), says materials processing is a complicated process and could be associated with various environmental issues

Please tell us about your efforts that ensure a sustainable and equitable digital future.
Our Society is taking the best approach to fully digitalise all our processes. For example, starting from membership certificate/details and key information of organizations/products/services to be available in a QR Code, in addition to the monitoring of progress of detailed Sustainability assessments to be easily accessible via a clear and simple online tool, which our members can access by different means of digital communications.

What is your commitment to combat climate change?
The main objective of our Society is to advance sustainability to combat climate change, and also support the commitments for reducing CO2 emission. In addition, we focus on green materials, to ensure production and processes of materials (such as building materials such as steel, cement/concrete, glass, and so on), will follow standardised processes that will support and enable proper certification, and international accreditation.

What are the challenges in combating global environmental issues?
Materials processing is a complicated process and could be associated with various environmental issues. If extraction and processing of materials are not undertaken to follow the right sustainability procedures from early stages, it will end up having a direct and considerable negative impact on the environment. For example, if we carry on producing plastic shopping bags in an unsustainable conventional way, this will result in waste of these products, which are harmful to the environment, and also increase the pressure on landfills.

What sort of trends do you foresee in the areas of sustainability and technology?
Technology is a tool that, if used properly can help improve sustainability. Technology is developing very fast in various sectors of sustainability. Changing the mindset is essential, to ensure we undertake the right technology approach to achieve sustainability and environmental goals.

How do you envision your role in shaping a more sustainable future in 2024 and beyond?
In 2024, we will focus on dedicated training to equip people with the right knowledge and skills required for developing a sustainable future. This will cover various sectors relevant to sustainability, e.g. planners. In addition, we need to encourage and support materials/products suppliers to start to be involved in the declaration process through sharing, monitoring, and establishing targets to reduce energy/CO2 emissions and waste.

How are you aligning your sustainability initiatives in line with the themes of COP28?
One of the key themes of COP28 is sustainable finance and enhancing the circular economy. Green materials/products are a key objective of our Society. This is crucial for a circular economy.